China Bans Foreign Investment in TV Production Houses

BEIJING, December 8: Chinese authorities have banned any new
foreign investment in television and film companies, according to a report in
the Financial Times.

In an interview with the FT, Zhu Hong of the State
Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) said, "Our policy is
to temporarily not approve the creation of new joint companies.” This reverses
a 2004 ruling that allowed international outfits to take minority stakes in
local production houses. "People can jointly invest in filming individual
movies and individual television dramas, but we are not going to approve the
creation of program production companies."